Learn how to ask where somebody is
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| Salut, je m'appelle Ingrid. Hi everybody! I’m Ingrid. | |
| Welcome to FrenchPod101.com’s “Le français en 3 minutes”. The fastest, easiest, and most fun way to learn French. | |
| In the last lesson, we learned how to talk about nationality. This is the second part of our lesson on the verb être, which is "to be". | |
| This verb is also used to talk about location, to say things like "I am in the street" or "He is in the room", so it's very useful! | |
| When you want to know where something or someone is, you use the verb être in French. | |
| For example, when someone asks you on the phone Où es-tu? That means "Where are you?" in an informal way. | |
| Let's break it down. | |
| Où means "Where" | |
| Es is "are.” This is the “to be” verb être conjugated for tu. | |
| And tu, as you know, is the informal word for "you" | |
| All together it is Où es-tu? | |
| [slowly] Où es-tu ? | |
| Answering this question is very easy! You just say Je suis + the place where you are. | |
| Je means “I” and | |
| suis is that verb être again. | |
| Then you add the place. So for example, you can say Je suis dans la rue which is "I am in the street" | |
| [slowly] Je suis dans la rue. | |
| Now let’s see a few other possible answers with I: | |
| "I am at the office" would be Je suis au bureau. | |
| "I am in a meeting" would be Je suis en reunion. | |
| "I am in a store" would be Je suis dans un magasin. | |
| Another useful expression with the verb être is when you answer the phone. To introduce your name you can say C’est + your name. | |
| So when I pick up the phone I often say C’est Ingrid. It is really simple—you just say C’est, which means "It is" + your name | |
| This verb être changes a lot depending on the pronoun it is pointing to and its tense. Let’s review a few of the versions we’ve seen so far. | |
| êtes - Vous êtes de quelle nationalité? | |
| suis - Je suis américain. | |
| es - Où es-tu? | |
| est - C’est | |
| Now it’s time for Ingrid’s tips. | |
| Also with the verb être, you can use this convenient question if you are lost in the street for example Je ne sais pas où je suis, pouvez-vous m’aider s’il vous plait? | |
| That means I don’t know where I am, can you help me please? | |
| (One more time, slowly: Je ne sais pas où je suis, pouvez-vous m’aider s’il vous plait?) | |
| In this lesson we learned how to talk about your location thanks to verb être. Next time we’ll learn how to talk about ages using the verb avoir, which is "to have" in French. So do you want to know how to ask somebody’s age? I’ll be waiting for you in the next Le français en 3 minutes. | |
| A bientôt! |
11 Comments
HideHi everyone!
Où es-tu maintenant? Where are you right now?
Bonjour Douglas,
Il faut dire "je suis chez moi (I'm home) ou "je suis dans ma maison "I'm at my house".
Merci pour votre commentaire.
Bonne semaine,
Marie Alice
Team FrenchPod101.com
Je suis en house!
Merci!
Bonjour Yilda !
Merci pour votre question !
We call it "trait d'union" (hyphen). It indicates a link between words or parts of words. In this case, imperative + pronoun (aide-moi / tais-toi...)
A bientôt !
Marie Alice
Team FrenchPod101.com
Hi.
Why is there an intermediate dash between ''es'' and ''tu''?
Où suis-je maintenant? Mon chien et moi, nous sommes dans la maison. Je mange ma cuisine et mon chien aussi la veut manger.
(Where am I right now? My dog and I, we are in the house. I am eating my food and my dog wants to eat it too.)
Je suis dans la bibliotheque de ma universite.
Merci:smile:
Hello Tito,
The prepositions en and dans both mean "in" in French, and can both express time and location.
"Dans" is more precise and is used before a noun with a definite article, "il a été enfermé dans la prison de la ville" (he was locked in the prison of the city) and "il a été enfermé en prison."(he was locked up in prison.)
If you want to use the preposition à, a, au, aux :
a + le = au
a + les = aux
a + la = à la
a+ l' = à l'
- Je vais au cinéma ( I'm going to the cinema)
- Je vais aux Champs-Elysées
- Je vais à la clinique (I'm going to the clinic)
Thank you for your comment !
Marie Alice
Team Frenchpod101.com
Bonjour!
Would you please explain the differences between the uses prepositions "au", "en", and "dans"? I'm a bit confused particularly about when to use "en" versus "dans".
Merci,
Tito
Hello Janelle,
Thank you for your comment !
Just a small correction : classroom in french is : "salle de classe"
"Je suis dans ma salle de classe".
Keep practicing !
Cheers,
Marie Alice
Team FrenchPod101.com
Je suis dans ma chambre de classe
I am in my classroom.